Month: November 2016

The first story we read these two weeks was called Friends to the End: The True Value of Friendship by Bradley Trevor Grieve (9781449403171). I enjoyed this story but I do feel like it is rather long even though it had all of the photos of the cute animals. In a classroom, I would not personally use this book due to the fact that it was ridiculously long and that it had some “inappropriate” mentions in the book like Sex and the City. However, if I had to use the book in the classroom I would read it to older children and hope for some level of maturity.

The next story we read was called Bat Around the Clock by Kathi Appelt. (9780688164690) In this story, we are shown a group of bats who are throwing a televised dance that changes depending on the time. With this, we could make children interested in learning about how to tell time since clocks were at the bottom of every page. Also, you could use the book in a dance class and get the children moving- to release their energy. One of the big themes you could use from the book is how and where bats live depending on what part of the country you live in. With science, you could also talk about hibernation or nocturnal animals. As a teacher, I would definitely use this for lower elementary school students.

Next, Mrs. Jackson read a story from the TIME magazine called Aniexty, Depression, and the American Adolescent by Susanna Schrobsdorff. As Mrs. Jackson continued, I couldn’t help but think how lucky I am to not be “cursed” with a disease with no common cure. When she finished was the quite long excerpt, we were all able to talk and analyze how aniexty and the formation of depression is widely spread because of the way of culture has formulated into. As people who are fully in a technology world, we are constantly glued to a phones and are faced with stereotypes and what is the new “perfect”. If anything, we are all looking to be accepted. As a teacher, I would defiantly read this to high schoolers since they are greatly affected by this. Awareness gives hope to people who do deal with this on a daily basis.﻿﻿

Lastly, in contrast to the first read aloud, Bradley Trevor Grieve’s Friends to the End: The True Value of Friendship, Scott read his second read aloud, a haiku, called Odds on Improvement by Jeremy J. I personally did not feel empowered by this short reading but if I were a teacher in a classroom teaching about haikus I might use this one. However, other than that, showing that friendship is a vital thing in people’s lives I wouldn’t use this example. The haiku did not have depth making me not totally interested in it.﻿

Learning Experience:

We have been currently learning about barriers and the effect changes people. As we got our adopted family, a family of four- three children and a mother, it was interesting because I wondered if there was a barrier that forced them to need to be on this Christmas list. In groups, we created a group text and discussed what we should get for our child- Hayden for my group. I somehow was placed for the job to get the shoes for the little boys. Since I work at Kohl’s, I bought him a pair of FILA shoes and a shirt especially since I get a discount. I came home and showed my mom what I got and she was also proud because I paid for it by myself.﻿ Not only are they proud of me but I’m also proud of myself.﻿

Current Event:

As I searched education news, The first one I came across was about a man from Virginia. Immediately, I was intrigued since I used to live in Virginia. The article wrote about a man named Wes Bellamy and how he is stepping down from his role/membership on the Virginia Board of Education. Wondering why, it claimed that the man had tweeted years ago that included public messages of “gay slurs, references to sexual assault and anti-white comments.” It was quite interesting considering only nine members sit on the board and that he was picked in the first place. Wouldn’t there be a background check before appointment? Not only bad on him but also the governor and his team for allowing that. This relates to class because like Ashley presented, racism and the denial of multiculturalism is still apparent today.

﻿As we study barriers, this quote stood out. Becoming a teacher impacts not only our education but also our personal lives. With action, we, children, can change our future and it all comes down to how our home and school lives are being developed. If these environments aren’t stable, neither is our education. As a teacher, it is important to change and impact students for the better. Many of the barriers that we studied are some of the examples that ruin a home environment. Working on making a positive environment for these people is necessary.﻿

Observation:

This week while at Kohl’s, I noticed a woman who was obviously on something. Not only did I question why would she pick Kohl’s out of all place to go to but what made her feel the need to take something? I remembered everything we have learned about barriers including substance abuse and saw a real life example of how it can really damage a person. Also, this week, my mom who is a teacher came home and told me that some of the fish eggs she is growing at school died. She continued and told me that one of the girls in her class started bawling because not only did the fish die but so did her mom’s hamster, one that she never met, had died. This was a prime example to our death, dying and grief lesson. Little children react to death differently from adults and even teenagers.

Reflection:

Black Friday was last weekend and I had to work. I was so exhausted and had worked a total of 26 hours. I couldn’t believe that they scheduled me for four midnight shifts. Then school happened. I was not prepared for anything. I just wanted to crawl into bed and forget everything. Luckily, my dad sent a note saying that I could leave 45 minutes early from school to be prepared to work that last midnight shift. It was also GREAT, I say sarcastically, that Monday was the most homework given this whole year from all four of my classes that day. I didn’t want to deal with it but somehow I pulled through. Besides all of the semi-sad things this week, I got back my SAT score-1290. My parents were so proud. I couldn’t believe it. Maybe things will turn out alright in the end. ﻿

Read alouds- Due to our class presenting barrier or label projects, we only read 3 books in the past two weeks. The first book was an inspirational poem called Allow Yourself by Catherine Pulsifer. In the poem, the main theme was to be true to yourself and work hard to earn your dreams or simply to motivate yourself. In a classroom, I feel that this was appropriate for a room full of high school seniors. As school continues, we are becoming less motivated to do the best we can do and just looking at the finish line- graduation. I felt that the poem encouraged us to keep our grades up while also enjoying our senior year, the year before college and things start to get serious.

On the same day, the second read aloud was Exclamation Mark by Amy Krouse (ISBN 9780545436793). Within the book, the exclamation mark, the main character, learned his true abilities and found his true purpose- to end a sentence! The book was cute and puny. I think this book would best be used in an elementary school classroom because it would be great to use to show children how to pronunciate and possibly bring it back to a creative writing lesson. The book was good at also involving other pronunciation marks such as the period and the question mark. With this children could better understand basic writing and reading principles and also a life lesson to be excepting of others and try to find your true purpose in life.

Lastly, my favorite read aloud within the past two weeks was Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester (ISBN 9780547480367). In this book, children could see that being different is nothing to be ashamed about and rather that people will be accepting because even your odd qualities are useful. Again, I think that this book would be best used in an elementary school classroom because you could do simple lesson plans such as where do penguins live, how do they act or simple math lessons using Tacky’s singing in the book. The list could continue on but overall I found the book cute, fun and plenty of opportunities for different lesson plans.

Learning Experience: During these last two weeks, we have been discussing the different barriers or labels that people have including sleep deprivation, grief, abuse of any kind or bullying (my label that I presented). I was intrigued by some of the presentation because I know people who have personally dealt with these problems. I was shook to the core when our substitute told us her daughter’s story of substance abuse and how it affected her daughter’s education. I soon realized that these labels or not just put on paper but they are real constant struggles that people have to deal with. I was also blown away when I asked my sister if she has been personally bullied because of her red hair. I had asked her this because of a statistic that said 23% of red haired females stated that bullying started because of their hair. I soon realized that it doesn’t matter your personality or how kind you are but people will try to cover their labels and/or barriers and put them on other people.

Current Event: In this article, the main purpose was to inform citizens of that specified county to become aware of a drug read awareness program that will be implemented throughout their county. With this program, citizens will be able to learn about how to better their community by ensuring a drug-free environment. Rather than telling how The program will be implemented, the article speaks of how the county can get involved and participate in the movement. It also informs the people in the county to know where the meeting will take place in the other associated programs that are partnering with them. As schools have to deal with this issue, these programs are important to give awareness and gain participation.

As we continue to learn about the struggles of having to live with barriers/labels, this showed how true change comes within. When Mrs. Alger was telling her story about her daughter, she claimed that they put her in rehab more than once but it only started working when she decided it was time to start making better choices and to have a better life. I found this inspiring because as we start to make big lifetime choices during our senior year, we need to remember that we are in control to how well we do.

Observation: This week I noticed how lack of sleep is really affecting my motivation and my school work. With sleep deprivation being one of our barriers/labels, I was able to see how I need to change my habits. Agreeing thinking how it is affecting me, I ask myself how is it affecting others? Then I asked my sister and my mother how it was affecting their typical days. My sisters answer was that she felt that her going to bed early has really helped her understand math unlike she have the year before. As for my mother she is also been going to bed earlier than what she has typically had in the past years. Seeing this trend, my mom is more patient and motivated in typical tasks (not like she wasn’t before but more now). With both my sister and my mother doing better throughout their days it is clear that sleep deprivation is a serious issue and that observing my own sleep can cause me to change the way I continue my school year.

Reflection: I am now currently working at both Coldstone and Kohl’s. Sunday, the 6th of November, will be my first day and I’m kind of nervous about it. I will be most likely the youngest or one of the youngest employees and I don’t know how to react to a job where I’m never been trained or prepared on the task that I signed up for. I will be working in MJM, apparel basically for the whole store, and trying to find items’ their rightful homes. As for Coldstone, I really love the environment and the employees that work there. I just need to get the technique of folding ice cream before anything else. Other than that, I’m really excited about this job.